Abdul Rahman Baba (Pashto: عبدالرحمان بابا‎; popularly Rahman Baba, Pashto: رحمان بابا‎), was a Pashtun poet from Peshawar in the Mughal Empire (modern-day Pakistan). He remains the most popular poet among the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His poetry expresses a peaceful mystical side of local culture which is becoming increasingly threatened by less tolerant interpretations of Islam.

Rahman was a member of the Khalil Mohmand (Bahader Kalay) sub-tribe of the Pashtuns, a group which originally migrated from Kandahar to the Peshawar valley, from the 13th to the 16th century. He grew up in a small pocket of Mohmand settlers on the outskirts of Peshawar. Rahman ... more »

On Knowledge

Lights in the world are those, who know,Guides of mankind are those, who knowWhen looking for the road to GodAnd prophet, ask from those, who knowThe alchemist in his researchFinds sympathy with those, who knowA desert stone will turn to goldIn company with those, who knowAn ignorant is like a corpse,Like Jesus Christ are those, who knowFor by His breath the dead arose,The saintly breath of those, who knowThose are not humans, only shells,The empty ones, who do not knowNo matter to which low degree,REHMAN will serve the ones, who know